Through the Week in Feminine Dress: Tuesday

Today Emma wore a simple cotton blouse from Sam's and a thrift store denim skirt. She recycled yesterday's bun into a French twist and added a barette to hold the wispies.

Releve', First Position. I hope that Emma will continue to find simple joys in her everyday chores. Doing ballet while hanging out laundry reminded me of something Tasha Tudor said. I don't have the book in front of me, but the gist of it was that you could read Shakespeare as you were preparing supper. Being a homemaker is a privilege. It gives you the opportunity to create an oasis of Catholic culture for your family that would be difficult to duplicate if you worked outside the home.
Brainstorming over a writing project, Emma is plenty comfortable in her long skirt.

Thank You, Mr. Vennari!

"There is not one argument against abortion, and a different argument against contraception. Both contraception and abortion violate the same principle of the natural law moral law; namely, It is never lawful to exercise an act and reject the end for which the act is designed.[4]

The conjugal act is designed for the generation of new human life. Anything that frustrates that end is against both the natural moral law and the Divine Law. Both contraception and abortion frustrate the end of the marriage act, thus both contraception and abortion are grievously immoral for the exact same reason."--John Vennari

The above excerpt is from this article:Sarah Palin and Contraception. I am happy to recommend it.

Through the Week in Feminine Dress: Monday

Today's casual outfit is also composed of thrift store finds. We paid under $10 for the a-line khaki skirt and the knit blouse. It's great for schoolwork, light chores, or a shopping trip.

The locket Emma is wearing was her grandma's.
The bun starts as a ponytail which is then braided with ribbon. When the braid is wound into a bun, the ribbon is tied into a bow.

Back to the Classroom after Ike

Today Nathaniel resumes his classes at the local community college. He got a lot of good experience while classes were suspended because of hurricane damage.

He learned a lot about generators, portable gasoline ones and fixed propane ones. He and Herb spent several hours working on the portable gasoline generator before it would run. They built the foundation for a whole house generator and helped get the unit set up.

Herb finally let him use the chainsaw, which Nathaniel has been longing to do for several years. Herb made him wear all the safety equipment, including the regulation Husqvarna helmet with shield, goggles, and chaps. Too bad we didn't have something to protect him from the ants. Our yard flooded the day of the hurricane. Nathaniel discovered, most unhappily, that the ants had taken refuge in the trees in which he had to climb to cut out the broken branches. He has always balked at wearing all the safety equipment that Herb insists upon for every job, but after the first day wielding a chainsaw, he discovered "bite" marks in the chaps that had been in pristine condition when he donned them in the morning.

Not only did he clean up our yard, he worked two days for one of his lawncare customers in Crosby and two days at Mickey's house in Dickinson. Mickey, Herb, and Nathaniel all sing in the schola together.



There was even some inside work. Nathaniel chose the new color for the gameroom, which we are trying to give a more masculine feel. Happy with his choice, he proclaimed himself "a pretty good color dude"! He and Herb struggled with the granite paint. It requires very particular rolling, then very particular paint brush technique to keep the granite from leaving dark patches on the wall.


Oh, I can't leave out his first experience changing a flat on a busy highway at night. A policeman stopped to check on us and told me that he was glad to see I had a big, strapping boy to handle the job. Yes. Deo Gratias!

Through the Week in Feminine Dress: Sunday

Emma and I have enjoyed looking at photo features like this on several different blogs that promote modest dress. We've talked about doing one for months. Finally, we're beginning. Here's what she wore to church today. The dress cost about $4 from a local thrift store. We bought the hat on ebay. I can't remember exactly, but I think it was $10-$12. We bought the shoes from Payless three years ago for Emma's confirmation.

You Better Not Pout

Oops! Smiling is out of style. We didn't know.

Whole House Generator Worked Great

The day before Ike hit, my mom and dad got their new 20KW propane-powered Generac whole house generator hooked up. I suspect there will be lots of Houston-area residents making such a purchase after the experience of being without power for one or two weeks.

The generator cost approximately $4800.00. It automatically comes on whenever the power goes off. The noise is much less annoying than a portable gasoline generator. The 250-gallon propane tank cost about $1200. They paid $1250 for the electrician to hook it up, but I would think that the circumstances which dictate the electrician's fee vary widely from one residence to another. The generator used approximately 100 gallons in four days @ a cost of $2.90/gallon--cheaper than gasoline. Another benefit is that the propane is delivered by truck. There was no need to wait in long lines at the gas station to fill five-gallon cans.

Despite the expense, my mom assures me that, "It was worth it!"

All Soles Day at Our House

As Emma was gathering our dishes after breakfast this morning, Herb abruptly suggested that she join him on the floor to compare the size of their feet. Herb often measures Nathaniel and Emma's height against the wall in the breakfast nook. Comparing feet was something that he had never done.

Emma eagerly obliged.

Then Nathaniel took his turn.

Me? I prefer a hug.

Driving Me Crazy with Worry

Emma brought in the mail this morning. I reached for a big manila envelope. Smiling, she snatched it away, saying, "You don't want this. It's junk."

It was from the Texas Department of Public Safety and contained the paperwork for her to begin parent-taught driver education.

She has resigned herself to it, but she doesn't want to drive. This is not a surprise. For years she has answered Nathaniel's persistent request to name her favorite car by answering, "a coach and four".

I have my own growing concerns about her driving--concerns I never had when Nathaniel first drove. From the beginning, he drove all over Houston, even downtown, without my worrying. This is so different! First of all, the big benefit of Emma driving would be that she could travel to her favorite places--the ballet studio in Atascocita, fabric stores in Humble and Clear Lake, friends and church in Dickinson, without me having to leave my home responsibilities to take her and wait for her. I can't imagine her, though, traveling alone. I can't imagine her walking out to her car in the dark after ballet. I can't imagine her having a flat tire on the Beltway as happened to us last night. (Nathaniel was driving me and Emma. He handled it all expertly, though as the cars whizzed by so close, I was thankful that we had all just been to confession.)

I was just reading an article on 19th century ballroom etiquette, and it said that the gentleman was supposed to escort the lady to the changing room, to the dining room, to the dance floor, etc. How did we get to the point where it is "normal" for young ladies to drive abroad alone? Maybe the world was so safe when this practice started that no one worried about it. It certainly isn't now, and I am definitely worried.

Emma was right. I don't want this. It's junk.

Stoking the Fire of Faith

Thanks to Rorate-Caeli for this post on the Ember Days.

Still Recovering From Ike

Our electricity was restored last Friday night. Things are returning to normal here at home, although we still haven't unpacked the camper. Herb examined Emma's bower yesterday and reported that Ike pushed it southward by one foot. Other portable buildings on our street and a fifth wheel travel trailer were tumbled and destroyed.

The biggest problem we face now is all the rescheduling that is going on. My Cabrini Guild meeting has been moved to this Saturday, the day of Emma's "Keepers" mother-daughter tea. The tea itself may be rescheduled because the May Community Center where it is to be held does not yet have power. We also have a 4-H meeting and a home-ec co-op meeting (on herb gardening!) to reschedule.

San Jacinto Community College plans to reopen next Monday. Nathaniel will most likely have to make up class time on weekends. Emma's ballet school is still closed. We drove by it yesterday to check. It is located in a high-end Atascocita (Harris County) shopping district with several nice restaurants and a jazz bar. They are all still closed. I don't know how these places will recover financially. The Atascocita branch of the Harris County Library is open but DARK. Emma crawled on the floor to get close enough to read the titles of the books on the lower shelves. When we checked out, the librarian recorded my library card and book information in a notebook--the old fashioned kind with paper, not a notebook computer.

The saddest thing of all is the news coverage of school reopenings. Invariably, the reporter makes some comment about the kids needing to return to normalcy because they have been bored without video games and computers. The real news story is left unreported: These children have not built "furniture for the mind".

Don't Hit Me, Ike! Love, Tina

That was my favorite message to Hurricane Ike of all the ones I saw spray painted on plywood-boarded windows. Just in case you don't get it, it refers to the rough and tumble marriage of Ike and Tina Turner of "Proud Mary" fame. Ike was fond of caressing Tina's cheek with his fist. Truly, Hurricane Ike's attack on coastal Texas was also a case of domestic violence.

May its victims find comfort, hope, and healing.

We suffered no lasting damage and are almost done cleaning up the branches and leaves. As is the case with vast numbers of other Houston-area residents, we have no power. Centerpoint is working frantically to restore Houston proper; Entergy is working just as hard in the rural areas like ours. Astonishingly, I heard one man complaining in a TV interview after the first day without electricity and demanding to know when his power would be turned back on.

Our camper is parked in the driveway. We cook, shower, and sleep in it, and its generator also powers our big freezer in the garage, this computer, and the TV in the house. We are truly blessed, and I have found many things to laugh about this week. I remember disinctly lying in bed in our camper on Saturday night after the storm and giggling. Emma, on the couch, giggled in response. I have no clue now what tickled us. However, we were alive, well, and had air conditioning and a bursting pantry. Who wouldn't giggle?

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I grew up in Ft. Walton Beach, FL, so hurricanes are an important part of my childhood memories. Back then, we didn't evacuate and didn't know anyone who did. I guess 24/7 news coverage and the widespread use of credit cards have changed that. In fact, I don't remember any large scale evacuations until the 1980s, and I was shocked by it at the time. I don't think we even had bottled water when I was a child. We filled the bathtubs and big cooking pots, and that was that. We certainly didn't expect the federal government to come "help" us. That was a job for your insurance company. If you couldn't get insurance, that was a pretty good indicator that your property was risky and you might ought to reconsider buying it.

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Despite threats of flooding on Sunday morning after Ike, we drove to church in Dickinson. We had no problems getting there except for the Beltway 8 bridge being closed. It was an especially beautiful Mass. With no electricity, it was quiet and softly lit by the altar candles. A soothing breeze whispered through the side doors. As it was the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, Father brought a relic of the true cross to the altar rail for us to kiss. Face to face with true suffering and true sacrifice, I was awed. Forget Centerpoint. Forget Entergy. Here was the true Power for which we all should yearn.

Remembering the Queen of the Waves

Today is the anniversary of the 1900 hurricane that wiped out Galveston. It is a time to remember the valiant Sisters of Charity and how they worked to save the children in their orphanage. The sisters actually tied children to their cinctures with clothesline in an effort to keep them safe. They sang Queen of the Waves to comfort them. We sang it at Queen of Angels yesterday as a recessional.

Eternal rest grant them O Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon them.
May the souls of all the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace.

Napkins Can Make You Smile or The Joy of Decorative Napkin Folding

Our Mother Cabrini Guild will host an afternoon tea for the ladies and girls of our parish on Sunday. If Ike doesn't come calling, we plan to decorate the church hall on Saturday. The Guild has a great decorating team for all our events, and I have been looking for a way to contribute. After a little research, I decided that developing some napkin-folding skills would complement the other ladies' accomplishments. Last night Emma and I sat down together at the kitchen table to try a new napkin folding book that I ordered called Decorative Napkin Folding for Beginners. Shortly after we started, Herb lost his glasses somewhere in the gameroom, so while I helped him look, Emma worked diligently. Below are individual shots and descriptions of the results. She took all the pictures.



This posy pocket could go formal with a rose bud and baby's breath. Here Emma made use of materials at hand: crape myrtle blossoms.


The place card holder here features a Marian holy card that we have saved from a friend's graduation. It could also hold a clue for a treasure hunt, a saint quote, or a Bible verse.


This design is actually supposed to be Boat with Sails. It gets the sail effect by separating the layers. We decided to form it into a Mary grotto by squishing the hull into the cup and not separating the layers. A Mary cut-out would work nicely. We had stickers handy, though, so Emma used one to try out the effect.

This is Lady Windermere's Fan. I think it would look like a bird if you stood a colored boiled egg up in the little hollow. For crispier folds that would do away with the hollow, wash the napkins in starch, then iron. Actually, all of these designs would benefit from a good starching.

The book showed this silverware holder outfitted with plastic utensils. It would be a fun way to rev up a casual place setting for a barbecue or picnic.

. "Cockscomb" features a ruffle down the front. It's understated, yet elegant.

This one, though called "The Nest", reminds me of a little person sitting on the floor with both legs stretched out.

Here's a boat design for a lakeside meal or fish dinner.

After Emma finished the napkins, Herb found his glasses. . .



in the attic.

A Little Momsense on Republicans and the Pro-life Issue

A politicalized version of Anita Renfro, Sarah Palin definitely livens up the cadaverous McCain. She's the vivacious, fun-loving, smart-alecky best girlfriend that every woman, including me, would love to have: She's a Sisterwoman of the first order. May God bless her.

However, watching the Republican convention last night, I waited in vain for someone to promote the pro-life position, since we are all supposed to vote for McCain now that he has chosen pro-life Palin as his VP running mate. No one promoted the life issue while I was watching, not even Palin, whose speech directly followed Rudy Giuliani's. That positioning in itself was disturbing to me: the Republican Party is a split personality; the Giuliani personality is the dominant one.

As for McCain finally realizing how important social conservatives are to the Republican Party, I think that is the usual wishful thinking. Palin's appearance at a Republican National Coalition for Life reception honoring her was canceled at the last minute, according to this ABC News Political Radar blogpost which contains the following quotes from Phyllis Schlafly of Eagle Forum:

"I think this is clearly somebody in the McCain campaign who doesn't understand where the votes are coming from," Schlafly told ABC News. "They only told me this at 10 o'clock last night, and it was a call from somebody down-the-line in the McCain campaign.

"The pro-lifers who paid $95 to come to this event because of Sarah Palin are going to be very unhappy," she added.

To paraphrase, I'm afraid that the pro-lifers who vote for McCain because of Sarah Palin are going to be very unhappy.

I think the Republican party is willing to put up with Palin's pro-life beliefs as long as she continues to support Israel, which may be the real glue in the McCain-Palin ticket. Despite all the "Country First" signs at the convention last night, the Republicans are still firmly ruled by the Israel-first neocons, of whom McCain is definitely one.

As long as Ron Paul and Chuck Baldwin are firmly pro-life and pro-America first, they will be considered fringe candidates. Personally, I love fringe.

Nevertheless, wiser Catholics than I make compelling arguments for voting the Republican ticket this year.

My head spins. I think I'll watch the Momsense video again. That is something I can really understand.

Palin Doesn't Change Everything

I was really surprised by McCain's choice of Gov. Palin as his vice presidential running mate because I like her. The only problem is, I still don't like him. I have heard nothing to lead me to believe that McCain will now adopt the truly conservative ideals that Palin holds and seems to live by. Furthermore, I'm disgusted by the Republican convention featuring endorsements by pro-aborts Lieberman and Giuliani while refusing to allow pro-life Ron Paul a chance to address the convention. I don't understand how "conservatives" are so excited about Palin but turned up their noses at Ron Paul. The Republican party is a mystery to me.

Constitution Party presidential candidate Chuck Baldwin says it all in his current column, "Can Two Walk Together Without Agreement?". He also nails McCain's true "pro-life" record in his column of Aug. 22, "John McCain Pro-life?" that I quote here:

John McCain openly embraces embryonic stem cell research. In 2000, he boldly said he did not favor the overturn of Roe v. Wade. John McCain was a member of the infamous "Gang of 14" senators from both parties whose purpose was to oppose pro-life, strict constructionist judges.

Speaking of judges, John McCain voted for the pro-abortion justice, Stephen Breyer, and the radical, pro-abortion, ACLU attorney, Ruth Bader Ginsburg. So much for the argument that we need John McCain for the sake of appointing conservative justices to the Supreme Court. For that matter, Republican appointments dominated the Court that gave us Roe v. Wade and the one that later gave us Doe v. Bolton. Proving, once again, that the Republican Party, as a whole, has no real commitment to the life issue.

John McCain also gave us McCain-Feingold. This is the law that keeps pro-life or pro-Second Amendment organizations from broadcasting ads that mention a candidate by name 30 days before a primary election or 60 days before a general election. This proves that John McCain believes neither in the right to life nor the right to keep and bear arms. (This is one reason why the Gun Owners of America gives McCain a grade of F.)

In a debate with George W. Bush in May of 2000, John McCain attacked Bush's support for the pro-life plank in the Republican Party. Still today, John McCain believes that babies who are conceived via rape or incest should be murdered. I remind readers, however, that there are no "exceptions" in the womb, only babies.

If all of the above is not enough, as a senator, John McCain has repeatedly voted to fund pro-abortion providers such as Planned Parenthood with federal tax dollars. In fact, McCain has voted to use federal tax dollars to support abortion providers at home and overseas. Yes, this "pro-life" senator (along with "pro-life" President, George W. Bush) has significantly increased federal spending for abortion providers to levels eclipsing even the appropriations authorized by President Bill Clinton and his fellow Democrats.